Category: Live Your Life

One Family’s Experience in Relationship Building

We began sponsoring Doulos students in 2013 when we moved to a church in Minnesota where there was a partnership with Doulos. I was first drawn to this partnership with a school in the DR simply because my second language is Spanish. Then, as I learned more about Doulos Discovery School, especially the mission, and met people who were directly involved in the school/ministry, I knew I wanted to “join Jesus” in what He was doing in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic.

There are so many ways we can join Jesus on His mission to restore all people to a right relationship with God. One way, of course, is being a good steward of the finances He has given us. In the U.S., we often find ourselves easily giving money to help feed and clothe the world. And we are called to do that. But we can’t stop there! Those are the basics – the ones that tug at our hearts because we don’t want to see anyone live without food, water, clothes, and shelter. It makes us feel good when we give in this way. But joining Jesus on His mission is more than that. It includes developing relationships and, within those relationships, encouraging one another in the Spirit.

Busch Family Sponsor Student, Andry (wearing red)

When we first started sponsoring Doulos students, I was not thinking about “developing relationships.” I simply loved the mission of the school—and that this was a long-term commitment to helping not only individuals, but, ultimately, an entire nation (one person at a time!). The school values of Christian discipleship, expeditionary learning, and mixed economic student body (along with the amazing dedication and passion of the school staff!) plant “seeds” in these Doulos kids – and their families – that God waters. The Doulos graduates that I know (and I have developed a relationship with) are rich in the fruit of the Spirit! They are blessings to the Dominican Republic and will continue to positively impact their country. (I should mention that we as a family – my husband, 2 kids, and I – decided to not only be sponsors of Doulos kids, but also to be missionaries working for a year on the Doulos campus. This gave us a great opportunity to really develop relationships with some of these kids and their families and to experience, first hand, the dedicated staff.)

So, though developing relationships was not my initial intention when we started sponsoring students, I have come to see the great value in them. We can encourage each other and build each other up as we join Jesus in His mission to restore this broken world. Sponsoring Doulos students is a part of this great mission!

Businesses, churches, and organizations of all kinds want you to know the reasons why they exist, and what they are committed to doing. We call these declarations, “Mission Statements.”
These short paragraphs attempt to distill a pure essence describing the key purposes and functions of an organization. In creating such a statement, one would want to avoid inclusion of “buzz words” that can sound disingenuous. Scott Adams, creator of the comic strip, Dilbert, has made a stock-in-trade of lampooning that kind of “corporate speak.”

There is actually a “Mission Statement Generator” online that hilariously exploits such cliché jargon.
After randomly choosing from a list of phrases including Opener + Adverb + Verb + Adjective + Noun + Conjunctive + Closer, we were able to produce this little gem:

“It is our mission to holisticly leverage existing functionalized paradigms in order that we may continue to exceed customer expectations.”

Inspiring, isn’t it?

In all seriousness, it will likely not surprise you to learn that we too have a Mission Statement. Ours states that we are involved in…

“Educating and equipping servant leaders through Christian discipleship and expeditionary learning to impact the Dominican Republic”

Our website unpacks the words and phrases we used in our Mission Statement. We define what is meant by “Educating and Equipping.” We define a “Servant Leader” and “Christian Discipleship.” Finally, we explain what is meant when we say that we intend “to impact the Dominican Republic.”

“Impact” is a useful word. However, the dictionary’s first definition is: “to come into forcible contact with another object.” Uh,… no. We like the second definition: “to have a strong effect on someone or something.” Specifically, our website explains that our intended impact is to “empower students to become the future revolutionary leaders of the Dominican Republic.”

Another way of putting it is that we want to see the Dominican Republic changed from the inside out. We don’t seek change for it’s own sake. We seek a specific kind of change—a specific kind of revolutionary. In a word, we are seeking redemptive transformation.

The story throughout all the Bible is one of Redemption. Paradise lost. Paradise regained. Redeemed. The well-known story of “The Prodigal Son” depicts a tragic waste of a life and a fortune, only to be redeemed in the end by a generous and forgiving father. Hebrew Law made provision for a dead man’s estate to be bought by a relative, redeeming his name and his household. The Messiah, Jesus Christ, came to redeem fallen humanity, purchasing her at the expense of his own blood, to restore what was lost—to redeem it. The Servant Leaders we would see raised up through Doulos Discovery School can only be revolutionary insofar as they themselves have been revolutionized by Jesus! They cannot hope to effect redemptive change in their country without themselves being redemptively changed!

The Dominican Republic is a beautiful country, rich in resources, and full of still greater potential. The impediments to realizing her promise lie not in outward threats but in matters of her heart. The political, social, and spiritual forces that waste, corrupt, exploit, marginalize, and oppress, spring from individual hearts in need of a redemptive work. The restorative work of God makes a person courageously love, bless, invest, build, benefit, share, and include. Such revolutionaries in positions of influence will effect redemptive changes. This kind of change is only wrought by God through the transformative work of His own power. This kind of change has a real impact—a Redemptive Impact.

Our Mission and Vision is Unique

“Educating and equipping servant leaders through Christian discipleship
and expeditionary learning to impact the Dominican Republic”

There’s something you should know about Doulos.
It’s something that, as far as we know, no other school in the Dominican Republic can say.

There are many vital mission efforts going on all over the island, and we thank God for all of them.

There are several mission schools offering Christian education to their students.

There are a few schools which have attained college preparatory accreditation.

There are some schools that get out of the classroom and teach by going and doing, researching and reporting.

There are schools offering education to families that could not otherwise afford it.

But there is only ONE school that does ALL of these things: Doulos Discovery School!

Obviously, it takes ample resources and a great staff to achieve all this.
If we were a school that relied on tuition alone, we would be, like most, able to offer education only to families that could afford it. We would pay our teachers from the tuition revenue we receive from our students’ families, along with, perhaps, donations received from generous supporters.

Doulos, too, relies on a Sponsorship Program. As much as we depend on that source of support, there is something else that we do that makes us unique and makes it possible for us to draw 52% of our student body from families that otherwise could not afford it!

This is why every one of our North American missionary staff prayerfully partners with donors to raise their own financial support. This, along with Student Sponsorship, directly relieves the financial burden from our students’ families. You might say that the sacrifice our staff is willing to make directly translates to a high-quality education for many families which, otherwise, would have no hope for such a thing. In fact, for every one student who is supported by sponsorship donations alone, we are able to educate three students! God, is, of course, faithful to deliver on what He calls us to, and we have a lot of experience helping our staff with fund-raising.
Consequently, Doulos Discovery School is a diverse community of blended race, nationality, and socio-economic status.

When our prospective teachers and staff ask… “Why do we need to raise our own support?” we are happy to reply! Our name is “Doulos”, which means “bondservant.” It’s what Jesus and St. Paul, and countless others called themselves. As servant leaders we seek to raise up servant leaders. We gladly sacrifice to make it possible to find that servant leader whether they be from a prosperous family or from out of poverty.

Our staff could choose to take a job and draw a paycheck. But, by choosing to involve supporters with us in this mission, they continue to ensure that a high-quality, Christian, dual accredited, bilingual, expeditionary learning education is offered, even “to the least of these.”